Chapter 4, part 1: Writer's Blo(b)

The first day of his "writing career" was a bit of a special occasion--most of the days following were a bit more mild.

Celeste usually made Isaac a nice breakfast to wake up to, Isaac would retreat to the writer's loft, and Celeste would bring him a nice little lunch about midday. He would take a nap when his energy lulled about mid-afternoon, wake up to some new snacks placed on the desk from Celeste, then do a bit more work until his wife called him for dinner. Their evenings then, were a bit of fun: sometimes they played board games they had never gotten to play, or watched movies together, or even tried out some multiplayer video games. Considering this was a start to a new job for him, Isaac felt like he was getting closer to his wife than he had ever anticipated.

His wife also seemed to be more fulfilled in her life. She did not actually quit her job completely at the law firm--rather, cut back to consulting one day a week. The rest of the week was hers to savor! Celeste enjoyed making their meal plan on Friday each week, getting groceries on Saturday, and doing the prep for her meals so that cooking is faster during the week. Then on Mondays through Wednesdays, Celeste would go to the local YMCA and swim laps for an hour then drop by the local hipster coffee shop to read the newspaper. Thursdays during Isaac's "work hours" she would indulge herself with a trip to the nearby mall, grab a frozen yogurt of boba tea, and window-shop at her favorite places. Isaac thought that Celeste just seemed more alive, more vibrant, than when she was working full-time (or overtime) at the law firm.

The couple were the happiest they had ever been.

A few months after Isaac had started working on his novel, Celeste came up to the writer's loft and flopped down in one of the chairs. He finished typing the current sentence, then turned in his chair to look at her.

"Hey sweetie," he said with a smile. "What's up?"

Celeste sighed dramatically, sweeping her hair away from her face. "I don't know," she said. "I'm just--bored, I guess."

"Bored? Really?" Isaac raised an eyebrow. "And I thought I was the one who got bored easily."

"Well I mean, you have Cyborg Corvids," Celeste said, gesturing to his open word document. "That's your passion project. I love cooking but, it's not something I'm really building on, you know?"

Isaac glanced back at the screen, then to Celeste again. "So if you could do anything right now then, what would you be doing?"

Celeste pursed her lips and looked towards one of the windows. "I feel like a change of scenery would be nice," she said. "Going to the boardwalk on the beach has been on my mind for a couple days."

He smiled, turned back to his computer, and saved his document. Then he clicked off the screen and stood up. "Then why don't we go?"

She blinked at him. "Go?" she repeated.

"Yeah, go to the beach--I mean, if I have total control over my schedule now, why can't I decide to take the day off?"

Celeste jumped to her feet and squealed. "No way, I'm so excited! We haven't gone to the boardwalk since we started dating!" She sprung forward and barreled into her husband with a hug, arms wrapped as tightly around him as she could reach. "Thank you, Isaac!"

Isaac chuckled and embraced her back, enjoying the sweet smell of her hair. "Oh of course you're welcome," he said, kissing her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you!!" Celeste exclaimed happily. "Oh! I'll pack up our beach bag and grab the towels, you wanna get your swim suit? We can walk the boardwalk then relax on the sand!"

"That sounds perfect," he said with a nod. "I'll get ready right away."

Celeste giggled with glee and pecked Isaac on the cheek, then practically skipped off down the stairs. He watched her go with a smile, then went down to their bedroom to get changed.

"Hmm, where have I been storing my swim trunks?" he thought to himself.

Isaac went to the dresser and rooted around in the bottommost drawer, trying to find his bathing suit that he was SURE was in there. As Celeste mentioned, they hadn't gone to the boardwalk since they had been dating, and it may have been just that long since Isaac wore a swimsuit. It took removing about half the drawer's contents before he found the set of swim trunks--blue and black-striped shorts with a little palm tree embroidered on one of the pockets.

His moment of victory in finding them was a bit short-lived, however. Isaac stripped out of his clothing and stepped each leg into the shorts, then began to pull them up. But this was not as easy as he anticipated.

Isaac frowned as he looked down and found, first off, that he couldn't see past his own stomach. He had always been a bit belly-heavy when he gained weight, but it was actually noticeable now how rounded out it looked. His soft pecs rested lightly on top of his gut, giving him a plumped-up appearance that was startling. But the second issue was straining right at his knees: the tensed fabric of the swimsuit.

Standing in front of the mirror, he could tell that the shorts were pulling too tight as soon as they tried to ascend his thick thighs. Isaac gulped, knowing that there was absolutely no other swimsuit he owned and there really wasn't a way to get another without Celeste being involved. Did he want to try and force the trunks? What was worse, the risk of ripping the shorts or the possibility of looking like a fresh-packed sausage if he managed to pull them all the way up.

With a grunt, Isaac heaved with a mighty effort and managed to squeeze the trunks up his thighs and across his bottom. He was relieved to find that the waistband settled in just the right position to not pinch his stomach, but he still ballooned over the top of the fabric. He felt his face flushing with frustrated heat as he observed the state of himself, and realized that the only way to not look like an absolute *** was to try and squeeze a t-shirt over his gut, and just pray the fabric was able to conceal the bottom of his belly.

A quick swipe from the still-open drawer revealed an obscenely large white t-shirt, which if memory served was once destined for a tie-dye project. But for now it was just white, and seemed just big enough to make him look like an appropriate-dressed fat man, instead of just fat. He didn't like how he could see his pecs swelled like droplets of flesh so clearly through the shirt outline, and Isaac's belly created its own shadow on the ground from every angle.

"Oh my god, you are so cuuuute!"

Isaac was suddenly jumped with a hug around the waist from Celeste, who squeezed him tight with a wiggle. He gave a small gasp, then laughed, turning slightly to ruffle her hair.

"Hey beautiful," he chuckled.

"Hey YOU, beautiful," Celeste said, sliding up to nuzzle her cheek against his neck. "You look just wonderful in that bathing suit." She squeezed him again around the middle. "My big handsome teddy bear!"

Isaac's face was a full blush now. "Oh honey, you--you're too sweet."

Celeste planted a kiss on his neck, then released her hold to search their dresser. "Hardly! I hope I'm as cute next to you as you are to me." She dug around, then surreptitiously tucked a suit into her arms. "Be right back--close your eyes!"

As she dashed off to the bathroom, Isaac smiled and closed his eyes. Considering she went swimming regularly, he imaged that her figure would be as firm and lean as it had ever been. Maybe he should ask her if they could go swimming together one day...?

"Okay, open!"

Isaac opened his eyes to see Celeste doing the Wonder Woman pose in a magenta bikini, a black floral sarong wrapped around her cinched waist. She flashed him a grin and said, "How do you like it?"

Those tight trunks grew a little tighter, and he had to avert his eyes. This caused Celeste to giggle with glee.

"That's what I was hoping for!"



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Author&a pos;s notes: Is it cringe to do author's notes? I wanted to push out the first half of this chapter before finishing the second, since I would prefer to post a whole chapter but it's taking me a while because I'm a perfectionist LOL so have the first "half" and enjoy!